I've actually seen some of the best polyp extension when my alk was at 5.4... Since discovering it was low I slowly raised it a point and now it doesn't seem the sps corals like it much.
I've actually seen some of the best polyp extension when my alk was at 5.4... Since discovering it was low I slowly raised it a point and now it doesn't seem the sps corals like it much.
Nice picture of nice tank.
What filtration were you using during that period and when did rised P situation started to occur ? What are your thoughts at the moment on all this ?
This is how my tank used to be setup, 15G sump under the stand with an external 1400GPH closed loop pump hidden behind the sump. The biggest problem with my old setup was the sump was too small, but the only size that would fit under my stand.. but in the case of a power outage the back siphon of water would overflow about 2 gallons onto my floor. I use a UPS to solve that problem but there were a couple times things didn't go as planned and I ended up with water on the floor.
and closeup of the sump.
The reason I don't go back to that method is due to cost. I contribute a large part of my past success to doing 50% weekly water changes, but my budget no longer allows for that these days (50+ gallons a week between 2 tanks). Things started to go 'bad' in respects to phosphates once I stopped doing water changes and tried to go without using any media to remove them. Previously with large water changes I could go 30 days using GFO to maintain phosphates at 0.00-0.03 levels consistently. Today if I use GFO it seems to only last 3-4 days on my system now so using GFO to solve my problem is actually more costly than doing water changes, but my goal is to find a different/natural solution to the problem that doesn't require constantly spending $.
Like this. I had to give this entire colony away in less than 9 months because it grew way to fast for me, it was bigger than a softball when I gave it away and was taking too much real estate for something I didn't think looked that nice compared to other corals I would rather have in its place. I agree though, sometimes polyp extension can mean the coral is starving, but that is not a common occurrence IMO.
where is the algae scrubber?
When my tank looked and ran its best, it ran off of caulerpa algae as its algae filtration, and also GFO, filter socks, Ozone, lots of kalkwasser top offs (lived in a hot area where 5 gallons a day of top off on a 75G wasn't unheard of) and regular weekly water changes. But again, I don't think the type of algae was a major factor in my past success, or my issues today, it is just one part of the overall puzzle.
So do you have an algae scrubber on this tank now?
Of course I do. The tank in question is the one with the LED ATS + skimmer. My other tank (60G) just has an ATS w/ 42w CFLs on each side.
Honestly, no, not one bit. My readings are identical between tanks, one with a $300 skimmer, the other with nothing.
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